Flashbacks!

So this has been one heck of a day. Started out watching the Lipizzaner horses train. They are beautiful creatures! The amount of training that goes into making those horses so responsive it incredible! It requires daily attention and lots of patience. It was unfortunate that we really didn't get to see what those horses can truly do! Their warm ups were basically just various dressage exercise which makes sense and are wonderful but not as interesting to observe as the war training and tricks that the horses are put through.

Tonight was the chamber orchestra concert. I really enjoyed it. My least favorite was the third piece they played, I found the trumpet mouth piece playing and the extended instrumentation very interesting at first but by the end of the fourth movement I felt like it was just dragging on and on forever. It was a very unique piece that I, personally, did not enjoy very much but I could understand why one would write and enjoy a piece like this. Side note: I did not find it boo worthy, I thought it was played well and was just...a bit different. I loved the first and second piece, that trumpet player is absolutely amazing and the balance of the orchestra was great. The Egmont was my favorite of the night! I really loved the difference between the Vienna Philharmonics and this chamber orchestra. This orchestra had a very...lively, young interpretation of the pieces, it was different but I enjoyed it.

I am going to geek out about the conductor now. He reminded me SO much of Frank Ticheli! Ticheli is a very energetic person, he would conduct music not by beats oh no that was way too simple for him but instead based on the flow of the music. He would kneel down for piano dynamics and then jump up for giant crescendos to FF he would punch the air, jump around. He was insane to follow! When I asked him why he behaved in such an insane manner he said "the conductor is the dancer of the music" he told me about how music is a matter of expression and connection and that the conductor was the dancer that brought out the music within. Watching this conductor get into the music like that reminded me of that conversation with Techeli about connections. He was never hard to follow because somehow we were all there and connected to what was happening - beats didn't have to exist in that way. Techeli is probably one of the most hysterical and crazy men I have ever met. His arrangements were brilliant but everything else about him was just energetic and different. This conductor reminded me a lot of Techeli in the never ending energy, the passion he had for the music, his jumps and expressions. He was like a dancer on the stage. I really enjoyed watching him conduct tonight, it was amazing.

I loved how the orchestra moved together!! Another thing I noted - every movement seemed intentional, like it was part of his master plan to make the orchestra even better, they moved completely together as though they were all connected (I guess I said that already but it was cool). It also amazed me how everyone waited until the movement or piece was completely over before shifting or coughing - like holding it in for the end. I recall that being something I noticed at the philharmonics concert as well. I enjoyed seeing them all be in sync with each other and they enjoyed being there so much. I loved observing and listening to this concert.